Hot Topics on Tap for Annual Meat Conference

Seven concurrent workshops on some of the most pertinent issues facing the meat industry will be among the highlights of the Annual Meat Conference on deck for Feb. 20-22, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.

Scheduled workshops include:

Modern Meat Production: Myth-busting
Attendees will learn what consumers think about modern meat production and will be armed with the tools to communicate to team members how to tell the real story about key issues including animal welfare, the environment and food safety.
Speaker: Charlie Arnot, CEO, Center for Food Integrity

Meat Case Dynamics
The fourth National Meat Case Study provides a comprehensive snap-shot of meat merchandising from across the country. This new research provides information about merchandising trends in self-service and full-service cases.

Ensuring Food Safety
In a two-part food safety session, participants will not only explore how to proceed during a food safety issue, but also how to proactively prepare or prevent such an event.

Translating Trends into Sales
This session will provide participants with results of new research on consumer trends, the impact the economy has had on meat department sales and what to do order to provide customers with the products, programs and environment that will keep them coming back.
Speakers: Danette Amstein, principal, Midan Marketing 
Michael Shinall, president, Meridian Consulting
Merrill Shugoll, president, Shugoll Research

Regulatory Update
Attendees will receive an update on new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations about the sale of meat products including nutritional labeling, food transportation, grinding logs and country of origin labeling. 
Speaker: Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel, Food Marketing Institute

The Power of Social Media: Help the Hand-Raisers!
This workshop will show how with some relatively simple tweaks, marketing and customer service departments can be aligned to answer the call and even extend the message by involving groups of brand-passionate consumers. 
Speaker: John Andrews, president, Collective Bias 

Health, Wellness and the Meat Department
Influenced by the study of the week, consumers are confused about the importance of meat and poultry in their diet. This workshop will explore the differences between attitudes and behaviors to better generate new sales.

Co-sponsored by the American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the conference each year attracts 800 members of the retail food and meat industries. It is considered the leading educational event focusing on meat and poultry marketing innovations, merchandising issues and consumer purchasing trends.

Associate sponsors include the American Lamb Board, Beef Checkoff, National Chicken Council, National Pork Board and National Turkey Federation.

To exhibit and to register for AMC, go to www.MeatConference.com.